


After the Curse

by TanyaReed



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-16
Updated: 2013-03-16
Packaged: 2017-12-05 11:45:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/722922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TanyaReed/pseuds/TanyaReed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things are different now.  They aren't in Fairty Tale Land, but Storybrooke isn't the same either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Curse

As Nova approached him, she studied him.  He looked like both of the men she had known with his face, but different too.  She wondered if life in Storybrooke had changed him as it had her.  She hoped so.  
   
Her foot dislodged a stone and he turned.  His eyes softened when he saw her, though it didn't show on his face.  
   
"You shouldn't be here," he grumbled.  "It's dangerous."  
   
"I can take care of myself," she said lightly, smiling.  "I'm tougher than I look."  
   
He dropped his eyes.  "Suit yourself."  
   
Taking that as permission, she sat down beside him on the rock.  She tried not to be hurt as he shifted away.  
   
"I've been looking for you."  
   
"You have?"  He looked at her, startled, before quickly glancing away.  
   
"I wanted to talk to you.  I thought maybe we could have dinner."  
   
He was silent for so long that she thought he wasn't going to answer.  Maybe he intended to just ignore her until she decided to go away.  The thought saddened her.  
   
"Sister..." he said suddenly, his voice harsh.  
   
"I'm no longer a nun," she reminded him gently.  
   
"But I'm still a dwarf."  
   
Her sense of sadness deepened as she remembered what the limits of his race had done to him.  She thought of what his life could have been--and hers--if they had been free to follow their own path.  
   
"Things are different here.  Changed.  We all have a chance to become someone new.  A mixture of who we are and who we were.  I loved being a fairy and I loved our realm, but here...don't you feel it, Dreamy?"  
   
"Grumpy," he corrected abruptly.  
   
Again, she searched his face, his eyes.  "Yes, I suppose you are...but are you as grumpy?  Don't you feel just a little bit free?  There are no molds here in this world.  Your ability to feel love is not a flaw.  We can be what we wish to be.  I'm not longer just a fairy, and you are no longer just a dwarf.   I think we were made human for a reason."  
   
He frowned.  "What are you suggesting?"  
   
"I want us to be friends."  
   
"We were always friends."  His voice was a little less gruff.  
   
She smiled.  "I thought so, too."  
   
"Dinner at Granny's?"  
   
"Yeah.  And maybe some pie."  
   
"I like pie."  
   
Nova continued to smile as she looked out over the rocky river.  She felt the tentative brush of fingers against her hand and closed her own around them.  The only sound was the gurgling of water and the friendly chatter of birds and squirrels.  No more words needed to be said.  
 


End file.
